Todd Rundgren and the A Sides at "The Fillmore at the TLA"

Review by Kleingeld (Switch to
)4/28/2007

The room was nicely packed and the crowd was in a great mood pouring loads of appreciation on the band after every song. In general the band was very relaxed and seemed to be having fun. Todd was clearly frustrated by some sound problems in the beginning, but was nonetheless relaxed, chatty, and singing/playing great. Tony Levin walked by on the sidewalk before the show and stopped to chat. Jesse pulled up just as they opened the doors and entered the theater with the rest of us who were waiting in line.

Set List:

1. Buffalo Grass

During the song it was apparent that T's amp hadn't been set up properly and he had to fiddle with the volume on the amp during his solo. After the song he had a few frustrated words with the roadie, then said to the audience, "Gee, like they never had an opening act before!"

2. I Hate My Freakin' ISP

3. Black Maria

Still miffing about sound issues, TR says, "We want to be sure we're in perfect pitch for me to do my a-tonal screaming over!"

4. Soul Brother

"This is the point in the show when we get into concerted disgruntling of the audience. We're not going to let Don Imus take the lead on this."

5. Mammon

6. Fascist Christ (Tony on Stick, killer TR guitar solo)

"You're very patient if you didn't come for the guitar playing. For those of you in that category, there are a few bright spots in the show, and this is one of them."

7. I Saw the Light (nice to hear the dual harmonies on the guitar solo)

8. Black & White (ROCKED. The crowd positively screamed at the end.)

"I started doing this song immediately after we invaded Iraq."

9. Lunatic Fringe

10. #1 Lowest Common Denominator (OMFG)

11. Drive (so nice to hear this -- it's been a while)

"You are so sweet. Like Scrapple with Karo Syrup." (you might need to be from Philly to get that joke)

12. Tiny Demons

(speaking of the TLA theater) "I have roots on this stage. This is where I got my 1st break; Woody's Truck Stop. Suburban White Boy Blues." He goes on to talk about how the band left the city to find themselves, how that was the point when he left the band, and how WTS later reformed and sang songs about colors.

13. Mystified/Broke Down & Busted/Mystified

"We hope to get around to offending everyone in the audience. If you think we haven't been sufficiently sexist, we want you to know there are equal opportunity offenders on this stage."

14. S.L.U.T.

15. The Walls Come Down

16. One World

== Encores ==

1. Hawking

2. World Wide Epiphany (Tony on Stick)

What a great show. It's clear Todd is playing very well. There were few mistakes but those that happened were tiny. I've seen some very sloppy TR shows, but this wasn't one of them. I really like the line up and the 2-guitar format. The harmony vocals were pretty weak, but it was primarily a guitar driven rock show. I hope they film it at some point. I also hope this configuration tours together again in the future.